Shadow Force: The Complete Season One

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All Rise...

Armies needing a mercenary reviewer to talk smack about DVDs should call Judge Victor Valdivia—if they can find him.

The Charge

Soldiers for hire. Military specialists. Fully sanctioned.

The Case

There have probably been more egregious examples of false advertising than
Shadow Force: The Complete Season One. Not many, though. This is truly
one of the most misleadingly marketed and assembled series ever packaged. The
DVD liner notes and opening credits promise gripping footage of private military
contractors showing up around the world, kicking ass, taking names, and
collecting handsome fees, since presumably all that ass-kicking and name-taking
can be emotionally and fiscally strenuous. There is real impending danger
depicted here, so why is this show such a chore to watch?

The simple reason for Shadow Force's failure is that, like History's
other disastrous macho reality show, Ax Men, Shadow Force takes a
potentially diverting premise and stretches it out beyond the point of
endurance. You don't really get to see anything actually happening, you just get
to see interminable footage of people preparing for something to happen. There's
no shortage of scenes of the contractors filing paperwork, buying equipment,
running training drills, driving, and talking to people. There's also no real
drama, however, because none of these activities are really all that interesting
or dangerous. Sure, buying equipment in Africa could conceivably be interesting,
and possibly, in rougher neighborhoods, even precarious, but the fact that the
show tries to squeeze tension from a shopping trip shows just how needlessly
padded it is. Since it's clear that nothing truly dangerous would actually
happen (you would have seen it on the news if something had), Shadow
Force is forced to stoop to such cheap shenanigans.

It doesn't help any that the show is grindingly repetitive, even by reality
show standards. Of course, all of the episodes by necessity must follow a
precise formula: The Shadow Force team, including former U.S. Army Ranger Slim,
former U.S. State Department diplomat Laura, former British Special Forces
officer Bob, and former South African Special Forces member Cobus, who
supposedly inspired Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Blood Diamond, collect information,
assess the problem, and plan a solution. All of the missions take place in
central and western Africa, and the eight episodes compiled on two discs all
contain flashy graphics to explain the geography and history of each trouble
spot.

The problem, however, isn't that the episodes all follow the same format;
it's that they repeat the same problem and solution. Of the eight episodes,
three involve pirates off the coast of Liberia, and the solution the team
arrives at is to patrol the waters and then politely bring the pirates in. Four
episodes involve national parks or reserves in which the problem involves
poaching or environmental abuse and the solution is to provide better
communications and surveillance equipment for the park rangers/guards/soldiers.
Only the very last episode breaks a little from this formula, involving
terrorist attacks on refugee camps, although the solution—better
communications equipment for the soldiers who protect the refugees—is the
same one given in other episodes. The fault isn't so much with the team
themselves, since after all most security problems, especially in third-world
countries, usually have the same causes and solutions. It's with the show's
producers, who insist on stretching out fairly mundane (though necessary) tasks
into interminable dramatic episodes, complete with hyperbolic narration and
portentous music. The repetition only demonstrates that Shadow Force
would have made a reasonably interesting two- or three-hour documentary, but
there are just not enough interesting aspects of security work to justify eight
episodes. There's certainly none of the two-fisted action promised by the liner
notes, opening credits, or cover art. In fact, for most of the episodes, the
team members are forbidden to carry weapons because of U.N. resolutions
governing private contractors in Africa.

Ultimately, there's little reason to recommend Shadow Force: The Complete
Season One. At least the 1.78:1 non-anamorphic transfer and Dolby Digital
stereo mix both look and sound decent, but the complete lack of extras makes
this a rather weak package. The show does give some interesting facts about some
of the problems facing African governments, but you could probably get those
elsewhere in a more comprehensive form. The soldiers-for-hire content itself is
not compelling. The team members rarely confront any authentic bad guys, and the
only real danger comes from accidental injuries when they train or set up
equipment for the military and government forces who will do the actual work
much later off-camera. Unless you're really interested in watching people buy
and set up high-tech equipment for others, feel free to skip this DVD.